Page 22 of Colton Family Bodyguard (Coltons of Mustang Valley)

After a moment of stunned perplexity, she nodded. She wouldn’t press him now, but the need to know would gnaw at her until he told her everything. If he ever did...

* * *

Mystified over how close he had come to telling Hazel his darkest secret, Callum began loading the containers of food into his truck. What really got him was that he had felt as though he could tell her. And that maybe a huge burden might be lifted if he did. Maybe Charles was right. Maybe keeping all of that bottled up was doing more harm than good.

Memories of when he had first met Annabel flooded him. He had been at a home improvement store looking at wood-saw blades to remodel his bathrooms. Annabel had been looking at the drills. He’d found that interesting. It wasn’t every day a guy saw a woman buying tools, unless it was for her man. Callum hadn’t seen a ring, so he had gone over to her.

“Are you a carpenter?” he had asked.

Her head had come up and she looked at him for endless seconds. She had long dark hair and dark eyes. Very beautiful.

“No.” She had held up a drill in her hand. “Replacing old doors in my house.”

“You don’t hire out for that?”

“Why? Because I’m a woman?”

From that moment on, he had fallen hard for her. They talked for hours.

They spent quiet times together, just comfortable in each other’s company. Callum had thought they had the makings of something special, but he hadn’t had time to really get to know her. They had only begun to explore. They hadn’t been together long before—

He could not let his mind dwell any more on that. A deep sorrow penetrated his usual wall of carefully crafted indifference. He finished putting the food in the truck and closed the door.

As he walked to the rear of the truck on the way to the other side, he spotted a black SUV. That in and of itself didn’t alert him, but the man sitting in the driver’s seat did. The guy was just sitting in a vehicle.

The passenger window rolled down and he barely noticed the muzzle of a gun before diving for cover. He just made it around the side of his truck before bullets hit the bumper and rear tailgate.

He drew his own weapon and inched up enough to see the shooter. He took aim and fired before ducking as more bullets hit his truck. Hearing the SUV’s engine rev and tires squeal, Callum tried again to shoot the driver. He had to take cover again as the SUV raced by and bullets pummeled the truck.

When the volley subsided, Callum got into the truck from the passenger side and crawled behind the wheel, fleetingly seeing a couple crouching at the entrance of the inn, one of them with a cellphone to his ear. Starting the truck, he peeled out of the parking space and chased after the SUV. He veered in and out of traffic, seeing the vehicle several car lengths ahead.

The shooter turned a corner. Callum was slowed by traffic and when he made the turn, he didn’t see the SUV. He searched side streets as he weaved, earning honks from a few drivers. Looking left, he spotted the SUV and nearly sideswiped an oncoming car as he swerved into the turn. He gave the truck full gas, no cars in his way, and careened into another turn. The SUV had vanished again, but Callum saw an alley. Swerving into the turn, he gained on the SUV. The shooter flung out into traffic on a busier street. Other traffic veered out of the way as the driver maneuvered around them, Callum not far behind.

There was no plate on the SUV.

The shooter craned back to fire his weapon again and bullets struck Callum’s windshield. He crouched low and stuck his pistol out his window, firing back. The shooter drove erratically and made a sharp right turn, causing a delivery truck to brake hard and swerve.

With the delivery truck in his way Callum had to stop and then drive around. People scattered on the sidewalk. The SUV had distance on him again. The shooter turned a corner about a block and a half ahead.

But when Callum reached the street, he didn’t see the SUV. He searched until he reached another road. He checked both ways, but the SUV was nowhere in sight. Making a guess, he drove left. A few minutes later it became apparent he would not find the shooter.

His cell rang. Seeing it was Hazel, he answered.

“Are you all right?” she asked. “There are a bunch of police out front and someone said there was a shooting.”

“I’m okay. Stay in the room. The shooter came after me. I tried to chase him but he got away.”

She was silent for a while. “I’ll stay in the room. Be careful.”

“I’ll be back soon.” He liked the concern for his welfare in her voice but not her worry. He thought about rushing back to Hazel, but she was safe in the inn, which had solid security. There were security cameras everywhere and a security team. That was probably why the shooter had waited outside. He knew if he tried to go inside and kill anyone, he’d be captured on video. Besides, the police were there now.

He called Kerry.

She answered on the second ring.

“The killer tried to shoot me just now,” Callum said.

“I heard.”

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